Jim's past comes back to haunt him
by apgov
Summary: Jim travels back to New Jersey for the funeral of a friend and gets confronted with ghosts from his past.
1. Default Chapter

I hope you enjoy this little bit of background on Brass from my imagination. I don't own any of these characters except the ones I make up blah blah blah……..

Jim reached for the phone on the first ring.

"Brass" he leaned forward in his seat, fiddling with the pencil on his desk blotter.

"Jim…" He recognized the voice immediately and the tone made his heart stop cold. "He's gone."

"When?" Jim leaned back and rubbed his temples.

"Early yesterday morning."

"I'll be there. Ivy? I'm so sorry."

"See you soon." and the line went dead.

Jim Brass put his head in his hands. Patrick O'Malley was dead. It was just a matter of time. Jim had known that 2 years ago. Patrick's two pack a day habit had finally caught up with him. He had succumbed to lung cancer and it had metastasized to his brain in a matter of months. His wife, Ivy, had been giving Jim updates periodically. Jim had traveled back to Jersey to see Patrick twice in as many years. Now he would be going to his friends funeral.

Jim arranged for two days off. He didn't want to spend anymore time in his old stomping grounds than possible. If it weren't for Ivy he wouldn't have went back.

He thought about the first time he had seen Ivy Warren. She had been walking across campus with her friend. The friend would eventually be Jim's wife. He had noticed Ivy first, though. She had her head back laughing at something Laura was saying. Jim remembered the two girls walking past him as he sat on a bench outside the library. As they passed he noticed that Laura had great legs.

The next time he saw the girls, he was with Patrick. They were at a bar off campus. The girls walked in and the sound of Ivy's laughter reached Jim's ears. He turned at the sound. Patrick also spotted the girls. The girls squeezed into a place at the crowded bar next to Jim and Patrick. Ivy glanced at the boy's, smiled and nudged Laura.

"Hey, didn't I see you outside the library the other day?" Laura asked Jim.

"That was me." He tried to be cool. As cool as a year 20 year old could be faced with a great looking blond with great legs that seemed interested in him.

"I'm Laura Patten and this is my roommate Ivy Warren." Ivy waved at the boys.

"Jim Brass" He jerked his thumb at Patrick. "This ugly mug is Patrick O'Malley."

Patrick gave Jim a good natured punch on the shoulder. He noticed a table opening up and ushered everyone to it.

"So do you guys go to Seton Hall?" Laura asked

"Yeah." Jim said noticing her blue eyes, long blond hair and those incredible legs. She knew he was noticing and kept crossing and uncrossing her legs. Jim was glad that short skirts had not gone out of style. While Jim and Laura got to know each other. Patrick and Ivy made small talk. Patrick's gaze kept straying to Laura. Ivy was used to this with the men she dated. After they met Laura, she was usually pushed aside.

"What's your major?" Ivy asked Patrick

"History. I want to be a fireman. My parents said if I wanted to be a fireman I had to go to college first. So I'm doing my four years to please the family." He said shifting his attention to Ivy. Noticing her red hair, clear skin and startling green eyes. "Ivy Warren, huh, you're not related to Jason Warren?"

"My brother. He graduated last year" she said knowing what was coming next.

"He and I had some classes together. Same red hair, does it run in the family?" Patrick laughed.

"We all have it." she smiled, glad he didn't bring up her father. Ivy's father was the attorney general of New Jersey and had his eye on a seat in the U.S. senate.

"Jason? Is that the guy that organized the protests last year?" Jim said interested. "Cops had to bust that one up. If got kinda rough.'

"Oh, yeah, I forgot. He almost didn't graduate." Patrick said.

"Your dad was so pissed." Laura said taking a sip of Jim's beer. "He had to pull a lot of strings to get Jason out of trouble on that one."

"You two ladies want to get out of here and do something fun?" Patrick suggested.

"Sure" Laura said standing up. "I'm ready for anything."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Sir do you need anything?" the flight attendant asked Jim. He was pulled out of his memories. "We will be landing soon."

"No, everything is fine, thanks." Jim clicked his seat forward and raised his tray table. Rubbing his face, he mentally prepared for facing his past.

He rented a car and drove first to Ivy and Patrick's house. He expected a crowd to be there, but no cars lined the street and the house looked dark. Jim checked his watch, wondering if he had gotten his day or time wrong.

He parked on the street and went up the walk. Snow was on the ground and his feet crunched in the snow on the walk. It need to be swept. He didn't miss shoveling snow. The Christmas wreath was still on the door, even thought it was well into the new year. Jim knocked on the door. He rang the bell. He looked through the window beside the door and only saw a lamp burning in the hall.

Something didn't feel right to him. His radar went up. He tried the knob, it gave and Jim entered the foyer of the house.

"Anybody home? Ivy, you here, it's me Jim." He instinctively reached for his waist to draw his gun, but it was not there. He was a civilian here and had not brought a firearm. He stood for a moment in the hall, a pile of mail was on the table. He heard the buzz of a phone left off the hook.

"Ivy, are you in the house, sweetheart, it's me Jim." he called again and listened

"Jim?" someone moaned from upstairs.

Jim took the steps two at a time and went into the room he knew belonged to his friend. On the bed lay Ivy, tangled in her sheets and blankets. She was on her stomach. She was trying to lift herself from the bed.

"Jim, you came. I am so glad you came." she untangled herself. Her face stained with tears and her hair in tangles."

"Are you okay?" Jim kneeled beside the bed. He checked her pulse, looked into her eyes. "Have you taken something? Do I need to call someone?"

Jim noticed the pill bottles on the bedside table and the empty liquor bottles.

"What have you been doing? I thought the service was this afternoon."

Ivy pointed to a box on the other bedside table.

"There he is, the bastard. Let the dead buy the dead. He can burn in hell. I cancelled the service."

"What are you talking about. Everyone loved Patrick. His firehouse will want to say goodbye."

"You know me, Jim. Everyone will say crazy Ivy is just having one of her spells. They told me to call them when I was ready." she began to laugh.

"Ivy, I need to get some help for you. Can you walk?" Jim looked at the prescription bottles.

"I'm not trying to kill myself. You know pills aren't my style." she laughed again and held up her wrists.

Jim winced. He had been the one that found her that day. Jim had saved her life. Patrick had been leading an EMT class out of town.

"Did you know, tell me the truth am I the only one of us that didn't know? Ivy began to cry. She collapsed onto Jim's shoulder. He reached out and tried to comfort her.

"Don't you touch me. Tell me did you know?" she began to weakly beat his chest with her fists.


	2. 2

Jim grabbed Ivy by the shoulders and shook her, a little harder than he needed. Her eyes seemed to clear a little. Ivy jerked her body away from Jim's grasp.

"What are you talking about? What do you think I know?" he demanded as Ivy shifted away from him on the bed.

She sat cross legged on the bed, smoothing the blanket with her hands. She swallowed and blinked her eyes. She shook her head a little and looked around like she was not sure where she was sitting.

"Oh God, Jim. I am so sorry." She crawled to the edge of the bed where he sat. "I'm not thinking clearly, I've been….."

"From the looks of this room, I think I know what you have been doing. How long have you been in here." He rose from the bed and turned on the light.

Ivy lifted her arm to shield her eyes. She stood up unsteadily and walked to the bathroom, without a word to Jim.

Jim walked downstairs to the kitchen and found some garbage bags under the sink. Returning up stairs he began to clean up the room. He stripped the bed and remade it with sheet from the hall closet. As he cleaned off the side table he noticed the pill bottles. He knew that Ivy had problems, but he had never really known the extent of them. He glanced at the bathroom door and flipped open his phone.

"Hey, is Gil still in the office. Yeah, I'll hold….. Gil, can you tell me why someone would need depakote, lexapro, synthroid and norethin. Drugs, uh ,huh. Call me back." he flipped the phone shut.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Ellie and I are visiting Ivy today." Laura told Jim as he was walking out the door to work.

"Fine." He said over his shoulder. He had just received a call that one of the officers in the department was being questioned by IAB for the extortion case Jim was working and he was barely listening to his wife.

"Fine." Ellie mimicked in her five year old's voice. "fine, fine…."

Jim got in his car. Jim loved his job, but it was not a job you could balance family with easily. Laura had been disappointed with his choice of career. When he had met Laura, he thought he was going to be a lawyer. Defend justice, maybe work in the DA's office, but he knew he was better suited to being a cop. He loved the adrenaline of making the bust. He hated the corruption he saw in the police department itself and was taking steps to uncover it.

Laura had married Jim following graduation from college. He told her about his plans to attend the police academy on their honeymoon. The life she thought she was going to have faded. Her father had been a cop. She knew the life she would now live. She knew Jim was not her father. Jim would not turn a blind eye to the things her father saw on a daily basis. Laura had envisioned a life like Ivy's. Living in one of the big houses out of town. Having plenty of money. She and Ivy had been friends all though college and Laura spent more time with Ivy's family than her own during college.

Jim knew that when he got home tonight he would have to listen to Laura talk about Patrick and Ivy's house, her car and their lifestyle. It wasn't Ivy's and Patrick's fault, Laura was never satisfied with anything. The only thing Laura had that Ivy and Patrick didn't have was Ellie.

Jim had been running down a lead all day on some officers involved in the extortion case, when he go the call on his radio.

"Brass, get to a phone and call your wife, sounds like something is up." the dispatcher said.

Jim got to a pay phone and called his house.

"Jimmy, I went to visit Ivy today, but she didn't come to the door. Her car is there, something is wrong. Can you go check out. I'm worried about her." Jim could tell by Laura's tone of voice she was genuinely worried.

" Where's Patrick?" He asked.

"Out of town at some training thing in Newark." she said. Jim could hear Ellie in the background. "Look call me when you check it out."

Jim drove out to the O'Malley's home. A house in a neighborhood that a fireman could never have afforded unless his wife had inherited a ton of money or unless his father in law was a senator. Patrick was Jim's best friend. The money had not changed their relationship.. Patrick still worked in the same stationhouse in the neighborhood he had started out. In fact, it was the one that served Jim's part of town.  
Patrick and Ivy were Elli's godparents. Ivy's father could have set Patrick up in a state position, but he just wanted to be a fireman. Ivy never seemed disappointed in Patrick, the way Laura did in Jim.

At the house Jim knocked on the door a few times. He called out to Ivy and went to the back door. He pulled the spare key from under a rock by the door. Patrick had used the key one night and Jim had told him it was a bad idea to hid a key under a rock. Patrick had laughed and told him to quit acting like a cop.

Jim opened the door and walked around the house. In the kitchen he found her. She was slumped on the floor against the cabinets. The knife was in her right hand. Blood was all over the floor. He grabbed the wall phone and dialed the ambulance. He checked her pulse, still alive. He reached for some dish towels and made a tourniquet around her wrists. She had sliced up not across, she was serious. He clothes were covered in blood. Jim wondered how she had lost so much blood and was still alive.

The ambulance came and picked he up and took her to the hospital. Jim called Laura from the hospital.

"You need to get here. She's gonna need you." Jim told his wife.

"What happened?" Laura asked

"I'll tell you when you get here." He sat in a plastic chair and waited on his wife.

Jim had not been able to reach Patrick and he hoped he could get back to the house before Patrick arrived home. Jim would need to explain the situation to his friend.

Jim was waiting for Patrick on the front porch.

"What's up buddy." Patrick asked when he approached Jim. Jim could smell perfume on Patrick.

"Where have you been" Jim narrowed his eyes at Patrick. "You wife is in the hospital, she slit he wrists with a paring knife."

Patrick turned sharply at Jim's words. Jim's blue eyes were hard and cold.

"Did you know she was pregnant? She had a miscarriage today. What's going on with you two?" Jim snatched Patrick up by the collar and noticed the lipstick on it.

"How long? How long have you been running around on her?" Jim asked "Is that what you were doing in Newark."

"I was at an EMT training meeting. I had to teach CPR. Had to get up close and personal with some of the trainees, come on Jim."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Come on Jim you don't need to clean up after me." Ivy came out of the bathroom looking a lot more like herself. She was dressed and her red hair was pulled back in a ponytail. Jim noticed that the red was now shot with silver.

"Twice in twenty years isn't so bad. This is nothing like the first time," He smiled at her. Jim was the only person she had allowed to talk about the suicide attempt.

"It wasn't a miscarriage. He made me have an abortion." she said quietly.

Jim's head snapped up at her and his phone rang at the same time.

"Brass"

"Jim, that combination of drugs, usually taken for Bi- Polar disorder. The norethin is a hormone. Everything okay?" Gil asked.

"Thanks." Brass turned just to see Ivy walk out of the room.

She was in the kitchen making coffee, when he joined her. He didn't sit. Jim stood looking at Ivy. He flexed his fingers and paced a little.

"Jim sit down. I feel better. I shouldn't have been drinking. It interferes with my meds. I had an episode. That's what Patrick always called them. "Episodes" ." she laughed. "I'll call the firehouse and reschedule the service. Everyone will understand my "grief" . After all I nursed him for two years."

Jim sat and accepted a cup of coffee from her. She looked at him.

"Who was on the phone?" she questioned

"Work" he gazed at her, wondering what her life had been like in the last ten years. He had only called occasionally and had casual conversations with her. He knew she and Ellie still communicated. She would update him on Ellie when he called.

Jim had been presented with a lot of information to process in the last hour and he just stared at Ivy.

"I will ask you one more time and you better not lie to me. I will know if you are lying. Did you know that Patrick was Ellie's father?" she leveled her eyes at him as if she were aiming a gun at him.


	3. 3

Jim looked at Ivy shocked. He stood so suddenly that the chair he was sitting in fell back. Jim stumbled over it. Ivy made a move to help him and Jim just backed away from her. He needed to get away , not from Ivy, but from the statement that was hanging almost physically in the air between them. Jim could not think of any other words that would have shaken him more. Only one time before had Jim had this reaction to mere words.

"Jim do you understand what I am asking you?" Ivy asked

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Jim do you understand what I am asking you? I want you to leave. I am sick of this. Sick of the harassment, sick of the phone call and especially sick of you." Laura spat at Jim

Jim had been late that night. He had stumbled home a little drunk, again. Laura had been waiting for him, sitting in the dark.

"It's not that bad. As soon as everything settles down things will get back on track." He wasn't in the mood for this, he had just spent the day testifying against fellow police officers. They were dirty cops, but cops just the same. He knew what Laura was talking about. It had been hard for Laura and Ellie.

Laura had lost her job because of Jims crusade to clean up the police department. Ellie had been shunned at school. If Ivy's father had not intervened Laura's would not have been able to get another job. In fact, Ivy's father had been very helpful to the entire Brass family. He had supported Jim's efforts to clean up the department.

"Jim, things have not been on track for years. We derailed long ago. The only way things will get better for us is for you to leave."

"You don't mean that. You, Elli… mean everything to me. I'm doing this for us."

"When was the last time you had supper here, or any meal in this house. Ellie sees your back more than your face. I can't even remember the last time I felt like I had a husband. I accepted the fact that you wanted to be a cop. I put up with the hours, wondering if you would come home, the other women…"

"Laura, there have never been another woman. You are the only woman I want. Just because your dad….."

"Don't start. If you were like my dad we wouldn't be having this discussion."

Jim looked at her and had he not be drinking he would not have uttered these words.

"Your father was a dirty cop, Laura."

"How dare you. Get out of this house."

"I will not leave my family, I will not leave my daughter."

"She is not your daughter. Think about it Jim. You have to know it. Big time investigator. You weren't even in town when I conceived her. "

The giant elephant that had been in their lives was now named and in the open. Jim had suspected that Ellie was not his daughter. He knew there was no way he could have fathered her. For a while after her birth Jim and Laura had been closer, but it had not lasted. Jim had even spent some time trying to find out who Laura's lover had been, without any success. The only person he had shared this information with was Patrick.

Jim pulled his keys out of his pocket and left the house.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Jim sat in Ivy's dark living room, head in hands, trying to process what he had just heard. Ivy quietly walked into the room and knelt by Jim's chair.

"Jim I really thought you knew." she whispered.

"I knew Ellie was not my daughter, that's all I knew." he took a deep breath and leaned back in the chair, shoulders sagging. Ivy took his hand in hers. "How did you find out?"

"Patrick was trying to clear his conscience I guess. He told me the day he died. Jim, he never wanted to have children with me. He said I was not stable enough to be a mother. Remember the first year after Patrick and I married? I lived in D.C. for a while? I was in a mental hospital."

"Patrick told everyone you had left him was living with your parents in D.C."

"I had a breakdown. That's when it happened, when he and Laura started the affair. Patrick would come to see me on the weekends and go to Laura during the week. He was such a liar. He treated me well enough, butno children, that was the only condition he put on me. Jim, I never knew him to be anything but agood husband."

"Yeah, I told him I knew Laura was having an affair and he listened, he commiserated with me. I never suspected he would sleep with my wife."

"I'm sorry I blurted it out, I really thought you three had hidden this from me. Laura and Patrick make me sick. Jim we stood at Ellie's baptism. I was holding her, and Laura and Patrick knew the truth."

"He told me so many things that night and I just sat and listened. After he told me about Ellie, It made it so much easier to kill him."


	4. 4

"Are there any other bombshells you want to drop on me. I can't handle much more. Is there anything else you need to tell me." Jim said pulling his hands from Ivy's grasp. Ivy stayed on her knees by the chair as Jim walked to the window overlooking the backyard.

"It's starting to snow again." he remarked.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"It's starting to snow again." Patrick said as he and Jim sat in Patrick's car outside the church. "We could make it to Florida in 12 hours. Sun , sand, girls in bikinis?"

"I'm getting married in 30 minutes." Jim laughed. "I didn't think it was the best man's job to try to talk the groom out of his wedding."

"Come on we're so young, we still have a lot of living to do." Patrick took a drag off his cigarette and blew the smoke out the window.

"I love her. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"Have you told her yet? Jim you gotta tell her."

"No." Jim sat quietly. He didn't know how he would break it to Laura he would not be going to law school after the honeymoon. He had been accepted to the police academy.

"Great way to start a life." Patrick said knowing that Jim was not the only one going into this marriage with a secret.

"You're one to talk. How long you gonna string Ivy along. She is crazy about you." Jim said happy to change the subject.

"Yeah, Crazy." Patrick knew he would marry Ivy, he wanted a comfortable life and being in the Warren family would guarantee a comfortable life.

Jim looked at his watch. " It's about that time."

Patrick revved the car . "Last chance for fun in the sun."

Jim stepped out of the car and walked to the church. Patrick grabbed a handful of snow and threw it at his friend. Jim grabbed him playfully around the shoulders and pushed him toward the church.

"You're a lucky man, Jim Brass, but she's gonna be hard work."

"She's worth it, Patrick." Jim pushed him into the church.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ivy was brought to her feet by knocking at the front door. Jim did not move he continued to stare out the window at the snow.

Ivy opened the door and Jim hear muffled speech in the front hall. The voice sounded familiar and he turned toward the hall.

"Ivy, have you talked to Mom? I haven't been able to get her on the phone. I thought she might be here."

"No, sweetie, why don't you come in get out of the cold." Ivy led he into the hall and closed the door.

"Is someone here, I saw a car. I thought there would be more people here."

"I am going to have the memorial service later than I hoped. I am having a hard time with everything." Ivy's voice broke.

"Oh, Ivy, I'm so sorry" The women embraced. Jim walked into the hallway.

"Ellie?" He whispered. The women turned toward him.

"What is he doing here?" Ellie's voice was brittle.

"I had to come, He was my friend." Jim walked toward her and Ellie stepped back.

"Why don't we sit down?" Ivy offered. 

"No, I want to go. I need to talk to Mom." Ellie said.

"Ivy, you need to talk to your Dad." Jim was grateful for Ivy's choice of words. "Go into the living room. I will be in the study. I have to make the arrangements for the service."

"I don't think we have anything to say to each other." her voice was tired, but she walked into the living room.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"I don't think we have anything to say to each other." Laura said as she got out of bed.

"I think last night said it all, don't you." Patrick said, reaching for Laura.

"No, we got drunk and did something we should have done years ago. It was just sex."

"Great sex, the best you ever had, the best I ever had. Come on."

"You are not still going to go though with this wedding?"

"Of course, what do you think I should do?" she said as she got dressed.

"Marry me. Run away and marry me."

"I will not be married to a fireman. I have plans for my life." she slipped on her shoes. "So do you. I work at an insurance company. There is no way we could have the lives we want if we married each other. Marry Ivy. She is nuts about you. The girl worships the ground you walk on." Laura headed for the door.

"You don't know what you're missing." He smiled that charming smile that made everyone that knew him forget all his faults.

"Patrick, I love Jim. He is solid and steady. He will be a good husband. I couldn't put up with you. You are in lust with me. Jim loves me. I don't think you will be there when it gets tough and you love being a fireman too much. I don't want to be married to someone married to their job. Last night was a mistake, we were drunk. It will never happen again and you will never tell Jim." Laura picked up her purse and left.


	5. the end

Jim and Ellie stood in uncomfortable silence in the living room. Ellie rocked on her heel almost in imitation of Jim. Jim looked at her, it always amazed him what a carbon copy she was of her mother. He tried to see Patrick in her face. Patrick was blond and blue eyed, so his physical image was hidden among Laura's in Ellie. One thing he did recognize in her was Patrick's personality. Ellie could wrap anyone around her finger that she wanted. She could be you best friend and worst enemy at the same time. You fell in love with Ellie and no matter what she did, you wanted to forgive her. Patrick had been the exact same way.

"Have you spoken to mother?" Ellie said a little fear in her voice.

"No, I think it's your responsibility to tell her about California." he sighed, remembering how hard Hollywood had been for the two of them.

"She should be home. I can't get her on her cell either." Ellie sat. She looked exhausted.

"You look tired, something the matter." He sat beside her on the couch. She didn't move away, he took this as a good sign.

"No, I'm fine, everything is fine. I just flew in from California, jet lag." she rubbed her face and arms. Jim knew she was jumpy for a reason. He had seen this before, she needed a fix.

"What are you on, baby. Why do you do this to yourself?" he leaned in toward her, reaching to put his arm around her. She didn't resist. Jim relaxed and hugged her.

"Daddy….." Ellie began to sob. "I can't stop. Then Mom called and said Patrick was gone. I can't stop."

Jim began to rock her. She had not allowed him to get his close to her in 10 years. He kissed her hair and let her cry.

"I'll get you help. You can come back with me. A new start, you need a new start." He released her and held her at arms length. "We need to go talk to your mother."

"I don't know if that's a good idea." she wiped her eyes and looked at him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"I don't know if that's a good idea." Ivy said as the group left the bar and headed for the campus.

"Come on it will be great. It's haunted by the ghosts of the serving girls and nuns that died there." Patrick said and tried to imitate the sound a ghost would make. He and Laura paced Jim and Ivy.

"She's fearless." Ivy said

"So is he. I guess they would make a great couple." Ivy said looking at Jim Brass. She thought he was cute. Dark hair, muscular build and a little taller than her.

They approached McQuaid Hall, Patrick and Laura trying doors and finding one in the back open. The pair slipped into the dark building.

Jim and Ivy sat on a bench outside the building.

"That's just like him. He jump and never looks." Jim laughed at his impetus friend.

"Laura loves fun." Ivy responded and laughed. "You play hockey don't you. I think I've seen you play."

"Yeah, you like hockey." this interested him. He worried that Patrick would make a play for Laura before he could and was contemplating following them into the building.

"Love to watch it." Ivy knew what he was thinking. "Hey why don't we go in and scare them. They would never expect it. At least, Laura would never expect me to do anything like that."

She jumped up and ran to the door. Tired of sitting with Jim who was obviously jealous of his friends actions with Laura.

As they wandered around the dark halls, Jim and Ivy became separated. Jim saw a shadow in the hall and waited. He reached out and grabbed as the shadow walked by him.

"Hey." the shadow grabbed him back and started kissing him, arms reaching around him. He ran his fingers through the hair. His tongue tasting her mouth. He felt her body responding to his. He pushed her against the wall and she moved her body against him.

"Jim?" Laura said catching her breath. "Oh my, I didn't think… my goodness."

He responded by picking her up. She wrapped her legs around his torso and he carried he through an open door. He pushed her short skirt up higher and undid his pants. He pushed her against a soft drink machine.

"Don't ….stop….don't …..stop" Laura whispered in his ear.

Patrick was drawn by the noise and hoped he could scare Laura. Ivy had also been drawn by the noise, just as Patrick was near the door, Ivy caught his arm. She knew what was going on in the room. Patrick jumped when Ivy touched him. She put a finger to her lips and led him outside the building.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Jim went into the study to tell Ivy that he and Ellie were going to check on Laura. He knocked and got no response. He tried the handle it was locked. Jim braced himself and used his shoulder to batter the door into the room.

Nothing could have prepared him for what he saw. Ivy was hanging from a timber in the mock Tudor room. A chair knocked over under her. He couldn't believe he and Ellie had not heard the chair fall. He turned and the final shock hit him.

On a chair in the corner of the office sat Laura slumped in a wing chair a phone cord wrapped around her neck.


	6. post script

SIX MONTHS LATER - LAS VEGAS

Jim Brass was about to leave his office when the receptionist brought in an envelope. He flipped it over in his hand, seeing the post mark he wanted to drop the letter. It was post marked: The Senate Offices of Jameson Warren.

He opened it with is letter opener. A sealed envelope and a letter fell onto his desk.

Dear Jim,

I would like to thank you all the help you gave authorities with the awful business. Personally, our family owes you a great debt. You were the definition of discretion. I hope this letter finds you well. Enclosed is something that was found at Patrick and Ivy's home. It was sealed and addressed to you. No one had opened this letter. Once again thank you and feel free to call upon me or my family if the need arises. I will be forwarding you the papers we discussed,.

Your Servant,

Jameson Warren

The envelope was addressed to Jim, in Ivy's handwriting. He ripped it open, ready to end this episode in his life.

Jim,

By now you have, I am sure, cleaned up my last mess. I need you to know that I did this for Ellie. She will never have to know how betrayed she was by all of us. I will never forget how young we were, how full of hope. The only person that now holds Ellie's past and future is you. You lost ten years with her, don't lose anymore. I gave my life away to a man that didn't love me and I was too naïve to know. You were too honorable to realize that anyone you loved could not be as honorable as you, and that is naïve. I am not sorry for what I have done, I am only sorry I didn't do it sooner. I have left Ellie my entire estate. You are my executor. If we believe all we were taught by the fathers at school, I am being punished for what I have done.

Ivy

A photo fell from the envelope. It was of four young people. One redheaded girl with her head thrown back laughing, a dark handsome young man smiling at a blond blue-eyed girl and a tall blond boy looking at the blond girl and holding her hand.

A knock on the door made Jim look up.

"Daddy are you ready? I want to get breakfast before I have to go to work." Ellie said as she stepped into the room. She saw the look on Jim's face. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, baby, everything if fine." He rose, buttoned his jacket, dropped the letter in his shredder and walked out of the building to have breakfast with his daughter.


End file.
